To scale domestic EU ship recycling capacities, promote good quality jobs, and ensure the sector’s economic viability, industriAll Europe and the NGO Shipbreaking Platform call on the European Commission to: 

  1. Recognise ship recycling as a strategic maritime industrial sector essential to achieve the EU’s climate and circular economy goals. With adequate policies strengthening material transparency and incentivising circularity, the EU-owned fleet can provide a steady flow of high quality secondary raw materials essential to the decarbonisation of key sectors such as steel or construction.
  2. Close the legal loopholes in the ship recycling regulation (SRR) and ship wastement regulation (WSR) which allow shipowners to easily circumvent their obligations and continue to export hazardous waste to third countries, bypassing stricter environmental and social standards.
  3. Embed strong social conditionality in public funding and industrial support, in order to ensure that ship recycling contributes not only to environmental objectives, but also to sustainable industrial employment and long-term skills retention in Europe.
  4. Anticipate the coming wave of fleet retirement and invest in capacity for safe and environmentally sound dismantling. Through the Maritime Industrial Strategy, the EU should support the expansion and modernisation of EU ship recycling capacity.
  5. Support green job creation, workforce development and Just Transition. Ship recycling represents a crucial opportunity to revitalise industrial employment in the maritime manufacturing sector and ensure a Just Transition of regions historically affected by shipyard operations’ decline.

EU support for the sector must be conditional on:

  • High occupational health and safety (OHS) standards
  • Quality employment conditions
  • Skills development and reskilling
  • Support for innovation in the ship recycling sector 

“Europe must stop treating ship recycling as mere waste management. The EU Industrial Maritime Strategy is a unique chance to anchor ship recycling as a strategic, circular, and socially responsible activity. It should combine high environmental standards with quality jobs, strong health and safety protections, and long-term skills development. This is not just about sustainability—it’s about securing Europe’s industrial future. Ship recycling can become a pillar of decarbonisation and industrial resilience”, says Isabelle Barthès, Deputy General Secretary of industriAll Europe.

“As the number of vessels heading for dismantling is set to increase fivefold in the coming decade, ship recycling cannot be the blind spot of the EU’s Industrial Maritime Strategy. Strengthening European ship-recycling capacities can play a crucial role in enhancing the sector’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy (today, only 1% of EU-EFTA-owned ships are recycled in the EU) while directly contributing to the European Union’s circular economy and decarbonisation objectives. The European Commission cannot miss this opportunity to send a strong signal to the sector, investors and policymakers”. added Philippine Bernard, policy officer for ShipbreakingPlatform.


Find the full joint statement here